St Catherine's Pontypridd Web Parish

Parish Mission Statement

2009-02-09T23:12:00.001Z

We review this from time to time: this is last year's Mission Statement slightly edited. Any comments?

Worship, Evangelism, Compassion

We are an Anglican congregation in the Church in Wales, and as such we are committed to the ageless work of God’s people everywhere:

1) We are here to worship God. God is the focus of our lives, and we desire nothing more than to please him and to serve him. Our services are our expression of this as we gather together, and we have begun to develop what we do together with the introduction of easy to use service booklets for both traditional and alternative Communion services, with a new format for our evening services combining evensong and informal worship, as well as other occasional expressions such as Café Church and Family Services, always with an emphasis on the whole family of God coming together.

2) We are here to share our faith with others. Jesus, by his death on the cross, has won for us complete forgiveness of all our wrongs. This is the core of our faith, and the treasure in our hearts. It is our desire to share this treasure with all who would like to receive it. Special outreach services have been well attended – at Easter, Harvest, Christmas and at Valentine’s Day when we welcomed back several of the couples who were married here in the summer months. The Alpha course is now an established part of our church life. In addition we are seeking to make more of our contacts with weddings couples and christening families, as well as those who make use of our mid week children’s work, seeing some of them become integrated into our Sunday congregations. This is all making sharing faith in Jesus easier, and stressing this priority in our regular Christian experience.

3) We are here to show God’s love to the world by acts of compassion, kindness and healing, as the Holy Spirit enables us. Christianity is very personal, but always to be used for the good of others, and we seek to show our love for God by practical acts of love in our own families and community. Some members are involved in local initiatives to help the homeless, and all have participated in collections for the work of Soteria Trust in Nigeria, Christian Outreach in Vietnam, a locally organised charity working with orphanages in Romania, the Maseno Project helping farmers in Kenya and the Barnabas Trust working with Christians in Iraq. Our burgeoning work with young families and our prospective work with the elderly are an integral outworking of this desire.

Mission Action Plan

Our mission as a church is defined in our mission statement; our mission action plan is designed as a practical reminder of the ways in which we seek to effect our mission priorities day by day.

Mission Action Plan

Worship
• To make our corporate worship the best it can be
• To further improve the music in our worship, and to pray for more musicians
• To make our styles of worship relevant to those who worship here
• To draw together more musicians and singers to be involved regularly in our worship
• To use as many members of the church in the services as possible, through readings, prayers, welcoming, collections, helping lead worship and preaching.
• To make all our service materials easy to follow and large print, using projection as often as possible as the best practice
• To make our place of worship warm, attractive and comfortable
• To introduce a culture of being spiritually prepared to worship, not arriving at church spiritually dry
• To foster fellowship after services with more coffee times and meals
• Above all, to worship Jesus with all our hearts, minds, souls and strength in our daily lives, so that our corporate gatherings reflect this wonderful truth.

Evangelism• To develop ongoing policies to help every church member share their faith with others
• To preach Biblical Christianity in all services so that our general understanding of our faith grows
• To make the development of children’s ministry in the parish a priority, both in terms of fostering faith amongst our own children and reaching out into the wider community
• To make our children’s worker post full time as soon as possible
• To improve our hall facilities to aid this work
• To reach out to young families, creating a safe place for them to think about faith
• To reach out to the elderly and bring faith and hope to all who are in need
• To supplement this with home groups where all may learn more informally, and where every member learns to explain as well as understand their faith
• To encourage more church members into a home group year by year
• To promote Alpha, and to hold at least one Alpha Course every year.
• To make Alpha essential for all wishing to be confirmed
• To make services accessible to outsiders and newcomers through easy to follow materials
• To have regular evangelistic services, particularly at festivals and baptisms; Christmas and Easter services should especially be aimed this way
• To forge relationships through occasional offices with as many people as possible, and to draw them into church life
• To establish a regular pattern of parish outreach by January 2008, involving one mission week or weekend every year
• To work out new forms of outreach which reflect our priorities as a church – always placing worship first

Compassion
• To begin our care at home: to visit the elderly, the housebound, the sick of the church with regularity
• To appoint a Parish Visitor to head this ministry
• For this programme to be joined by all church members
• For this programme to be more than a social call, but to involve practical offers of help and a time of prayer
• For this programme to be headed up by authorised lay parish visitors
• For a wider development of social outreach to be studied
• To seek to employ a Senior Worker to oversee a programme of care and outreach to the older members of our community
• To provide a haven for the elderly in our community and a place of refreshment and encouragement
• To improve our hall facilities to aid this work
• For involvement with caring services in the parish to be developed
• For a mission partnership programme to be investigated
• For occasional offerings to be made for local and international charities and mission programmes
• For 10% of our church budget to be assigned to such giving

Our desire is to see God’s kingdom grow in Pontypridd through the life and service of all members of St Catherine’s. This Mission Action Plan will be regularly reviewed to ensure it helps this programme in line with our Parish Mission Statement.

Keeping you up to date...

2008-10-16T23:30:00.006+01:00

There is a bit of YouTube video of Big Band Praise going on the News Page, but here's some more!

I'm having trouble getting the clip onto this site - so click here for Yes Indeed!and then come back!

Trombone solos all round, from Jonathan "Call me Irrepressible" Warburton, Gareth Roberts, and Kenn Hughes, who was such a star - in the gig, and all weekend.

It was a privilege to spend time with Kenn, whose faith and character were inspiring. I look forwards to our friendship growing through other opportunities to work together.

Also - this is Beautiful One, nicely laid back, and for more you'll have to go to Marcus' blog and find the October 2008 pages!

Enjoy!

PCC Minutes May 2007

2007-09-01T14:43:00.000+01:00

St Catherine’s PCC meeting- Monday 21st May 2007

1. The meeting opened at 7:30 with a reading from Psalm 37.

2. Apologies:

3. Minutes of last meeting. Accepted as read: Stuart proposing, Ian seconding.

4. Matters arising. Marcus gave updates on the following:
a) Alpha/Prayer meeting. Alpha ends this week; will continue as Wed. lunchtime home group, open to all from next week. Prayer meetings on first Saturdays have been well attended. Please remember them in prayer if you cannot attend.
b) Children: Holiday Club in Holy Week was themed around Egypt; 45 different children attended in the course of the week. New this time, parents were invited in on last day for presentations and refreshments. Next Holiday Club will be the second week of the summer holidays.
c) Cleaning party. Generally numbers are good when event is advertised.
d) Web PCC notices. PCC minutes are published electronically & on notice board.
e) Verger. Val is now acting as wedding verger.
f) BBC broadcast. Positive feedback from the PCC and outside the parish. One person came along to church because of it. The sound of the instruments on the broadcast was disappointing, but singing and speaking worked well. The wide age-range of participants reflected our congregation. The next broadcast will be 17 June; after that, CDs will be available.
g) Pastoral Visiting Team. This is now up and running and Marcus expressed thanks to Gill and the team. The team will be pleased to hear of anyone to be visited.
h) Purificators. A card has now been sent in thanks for these.
i) State of the paintwork in the back corner. Thomas P has visited to monitor this. He will make a photographic record of the state of the wall and redo the painting. It will be checked again in two years, when further deterioration is expected, but at a slower rate. The damage is most likely caused by a) damp working its way out of the stonework and b) rain coming in through the glass. Will continue to monitor to see if other problems become evident. The paint is breathable and does discolour in wet conditions as stonework breathes. The saltation discolouration is a separate issue. There is no further charge from Thomas P at this time.
j) Evangelism Easter. This was reviewed in a wide-ranging discussion. Things to consider for future events include:
a. Social events work well as a way to be introduced to the church family, although many people appeared put off by the idea of a formal dinner: a buffet may be more appropriate. Smaller tables work better. Coffee morning on Saturday was well attended.
b. Inviting people to dinner at a restaurant can be expensive for individuals, especially if people pull out at the last minute.
c. The model used of an outside evangelist coming in was not reflective of what we as a church are about; a better model would put worship first.
d. Advertising of events focused on special events and regular Easter weekend events were not highlighted. This led some people to believe that events such as Good Friday liturgy were not available this year.
e. This was a one-off; it is not planned to repeat the same programme next Easter.
f. Events off-site seem to be a good choice for the comfort of non-church-goers, and any future events will reflect this. Marcus summed up by saying it was good build-up, good turn-out and well worth having a go, despite not being perfect. We need to take our learning forward from this.

5. Finance report & budget. Stewart went over the church finances, as detailed at the Annual Meeting. In order to meet our quota for this year and pay bills, we need to set a budget of £68,000. At present, giving is falling £10,000 short of that for this year.
There are 3 ways to approach this problem:
1) Realistically, giving needs to increase by 25%. This will require a culture shift within the church; we are not centrally funded and need to raise the money ourselves. Marcus explained the concept of tithing before tax and encourages this as a principle, as God blesses generosity.
2) Alternatively, we could plan a gift day to try to raise £10,000 from the roughly 100 members of the church, but this is not a sustainable way of giving.
3) We could consider fund-raising events separate to stewardship
It was agreed that, for the present, Marcus should put the problem before the congregation in the form of a letter available in church, and set forth the vision of the church as serving others, providing worship, etc as a financial burden worth bearing and ask that members look to increase their giving to cover the shortfall, which is currently in excess of £200 per week.
John proposed the budget be accepted, Val seconded and the budget was passed. It was also agreed to put off discussion of fund-raising until the next meeting.

6. Church Hall Working Group. There will be further surveyors’ visits in the next few weeks. The hall will be empty by 30 June.

7. Worship Weekend and Church Family Day. Marcus announced that this would be on the weekend of the 30th June/1st July. Variety of events on Saturday. On Sunday there would be only one service and it was hoped that the congregations of the 8 am and 6pm service would join the 11 o’clock group. (It was suggested that the service time be changed to 10:30) The service would include elements of all the normal services, including a variety of music. There will be a choir for this event, with regular rehearsals in June. After the service there will be a bring and share lunch.

8. Children’s worker. Naomi is leaving this post at the end of August, having done 2 years of wonderful work. Kirsty will take over for a further 2 year appointment. The steering group will continue.

9. AOB
a) Flowers. Three volunteers so far, need one or two more to get going, and do flowers twice a month. It was noted that the silk flower stands need preserving, as one is a memorial and another a donation from the MU.
b) PCC responsibilities. PCC members are leaders and are asked to participate in as many events as possible.
c) Baptism & Confirmation Marcus reported that it had been a real joy to baptise 2 members of the youth group. However, the current baptismal arrangements are not effective for adults, and he will look into a large baptismal pool. The confirmation had gone well, with 4 candidates from St. Catherine’s.
d) Memorial Cross. Alan reported that the memorial cross for the garden of remembrance, cost £200-300, was being donated by the stonemason, Geraint G. It would be placed on a pedestal in the middle of the memorial garden, with pots for flowers. A letter of thanks would be sent. It was suggested that the cross be dedicated at the family weekend.
e) Deanery Conference 25 June. Currently 11 church buildings in Pontypridd area, but by 2013, this may be reduced drastically, with just 3 clergy, and congregations will be amalgamated. Many issues will need to be considered, including transportation.
There was some confusion about the number of representatives for this conference, as details had not been minuted and elections were held at short notice. Marcus will check the constitution to make sure we are complying correctly with the rules.

Meeting closed with prayer at 9:36 pm.

Giving at St Catherine’s

2007-06-09T12:53:00.000+01:00

A little history…

Time was, the Church in Wales had a central pot out of which all the clergy were paid, and the collections in the plate covered “extras” – bills for the church and anything else the parish wanted to do.
If a bit more was needed, a jumble sale or a fete covered the shortfall.
These days, there is no central pot. If someone says, “the church is well off”, that may be true of some church somewhere, but not the Church in Wales! Nowadays, quite simply, if we want it, we have to pay for it.

Quite a change…

This is quite a change in outlook. And quite a change in finances. When I came as vicar in 2000, our Parish Share (or “Quota” – the money we had to pay the diocese for general upkeep) was £14,000. In that time, the central pot has disappeared, and so this year the Parish Share is £36,000 (of which £30,000 comes straight back to us in one form or another – my salary, vicarage upkeep, council tax, children’s worker fund and so forth). I’ve not yet celebrated the seventh anniversary of my being here and that’s the increase we have faced together!
Which doesn’t begin to cover the increase in gas and electricity, or insurance, or any of the other countless charges we also face.

Give us the hard facts

By paring down our budget to essentials, we are looking at expenditure this year of £68,000 (which includes the Quota). But this really is paring down to essentials. For example, every time we do a baptism or blessing of a baby we give a Bible away; we have no room in the budget for this – these Bibles are paid for by two individuals and never go through the accounts. That’s how closely we have gone through everything.

And how much are we as a congregation giving?

Hard to say. At this point total income looks like £58,000, a shortfall of £10,000, on the budget. Giving accounts for around £40,000 of our income (Gift Aid, rent and grants for the Children’s Worker do the rest), and frankly we need a 25% increase on giving – that is, we need to hit £50,000 this year in order to balance the books.
So, for example, if you were giving £10 per week, we need £12.50 per week.
Except we needed that for every week of the year, and half the year has gone: so now the weekly increase in giving needs to be even greater. Sorry.

Let’s look at this another way!

Giving is part of our worship.
We always say “worship comes first” at St Catherine’s. In the Bible, whether it be in the Old Testament, where they gave offerings of animals and grain and all sorts of things in the Temple, or in the New Testament, where St Paul encourages the Corinthians to “excel in this grace of giving” and reminds them that “whoever sows generously will also reap generously”, our giving is seen as a part of our response in worship to the Lord Jesus, who – again in St Paul’s words to the Corinthians – “though he was rich, yet for our sakes he became poor, so that we through his poverty might become rich.”
How much should I give?

You decide. Prayerfully. And cheerfully. No guilt trips here. Those who can give a lot, should; those who can only give a little, should do that with a glad heart. It’s part of our worship – we offer it as such, and no-one is judged.

Personally, I tithe. 10% of my income. It’s an Old Testament principle, which Jesus commends in the Gospels, and which receives one of its greatest recommendations in Malachi 3 where God calls the people to tithe and test him to see if generosity in worship brings blessing or not.

Modern examples of people taking that test would include Mr Sainsbury setting up his grocery store, or Mr Cadbury his chocolate factory; it seems fairly clear that their tithes were blessed! And for my part, I would say the same thing. But I would then strongly add that this is a personal decision, and though I would encourage people to tithe in their worship, such a thing must be a free offering of worship and not in any way a gesture of guilt or desperation or compulsion.

Or think of the woman who broke the perfume over Jesus in Matthew 26: even the disciples saw it as waste – the perfume could have been sold and given to the poor. But Jesus saw it as extravagant worship spent on him, and accepted it as such, praising the woman for her generous act. In our giving, others may misunderstand our generosity (“what are they trying to prove?”); but such praise from our Lord is worth that risk. We don’t give to impress anyone else – only in response to the love of God poured into our hearts.

Practical tips

Give regularly!
Envelopes are good. Lots of people do this. If you’d like one – ask.
Standing orders are an alternative – and if you use one, just because you never give in the offering plate doesn’t mean you don’t give as part of your worship: each time that plate comes round, take the moment to thank God for your income, and that you can offer it regularly to him through your standing order. If you’d like one – ask.

Gift Aid
If you pay tax, you really must Gift Aid all your giving! Recent tax changes mean we get less from Gift Aid, but it still makes all the difference to us. It costs you nothing, and benefits us immensely. If you still haven’t signed a form, please do it today.

Thank You

Thank you for reading this. Please take time to pray now. I believe the Lord will bless us more than we know as we face this hard time together, and together face up to the cost of commitment to being a part of His church.
His love is wonderfully free; but running a church does cost money!
We want a church that is vibrant, caring for young and old alike, with
families and singles, men and women, children and grandparents all
together praising God. We want a church that builds for the future with
a passion for Jesus and for sharing that faith, a church built on worship
first. A church that grows and influences our town in our day for God and
for good.
A church like this is our choice, our responsibility, our generous
worship offering to God.

Lord, grant us such a church!

PCC Minutes Jan 2007

2007-05-14T10:02:00.000+01:00

Here are the PCC minutes for January 2007 - a bit late! Sorry!

St Catherine’s PCC Meeting - Monday 15 January 2007

1. The meeting opened with a reading from 1 Corinthians 12.7 “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good”

2. Apologies: Val, Esther, Ian

3. Minutes from previous meeting: With 3 minor spelling amendments (4h) Yeomans to Yeoman, (5) Gill Turner to Jill Turner and (6) then to than. Proposed by Stuart and seconded by John, all in favour.

4. Matters Arising; Marcus gave an update on the following:-

Alpha report/Prayer Meetings. Youth Alpha has started and has 7 teenagers attending, they recently had an away day studying the Holy Spirit and lead worship on Sunday evening. Marcus will express thanks to Kirsty for her commitment in leading the Youth Work and to Andy and Esther for helping. Prayer meeting attendance on a Saturday continues.

Welcoming people into church. David reported that the new rota had worked well up to the end of December, however there were some gaps in the rota for the new term. Naomi said the children are happy to welcome people into church at family services with an adult present and will make the adjustment to the rota.

Children’s Work – update.
After school club – up and running with 7 children attending aged 7 years and over, 5 children are from outside the church family. They are currently studying Daniel and are acting out dramas and making craft.
Holiday Club during Holy Week will be based around Joseph in Egypt.
Mini Kids – continues to be successful with 8 – 9 children.
Assemblies in local schools – going well with Naomi booked with at least one every week until March.
Children’s Church – on average 12 children attending and the Youth Alpha group are helping to lead which means that Naomi scan split them into more appropriate age groups.
Alan commented that the work Naomi had done in bringing children to church was amazing, Marcus added his thanks to Naomi for all her efforts.

DVD recordings of Services: A small library of recordings of services is now available for the housebound only. These will be transferred to video. Naomi asked if a recording of the Christingle Service could be available to the Children’s Church.

Noticeboard – This has arrived and looks splendid. Many thanks to all who helped erect it, and to the Satherley family for their donation to help pay for it.

Missionary Giving. We are currently giving regularly to 6 charities, and we have also added Soteria Trust as a 7th to help fund Sunday Olusegun Akinyemi who is a support worker.

24 hour worship II. Marcus reported that this was very successful, with a particular highlight being the confirmation service at the end of the 24 hours.

Harvest. We raised over £1000 at our Harvest collection. Marcus said that he was stunned by people's generosity, and thanked everybody for the faith that this shows.

Cleaning the Church. Monthly meetings are working well and this will continue. The February cleaning party will be at the beginning of Lent.

Garden of Remembrance. Alan reported that planting is completed and a donation of a cross to the garden will be made. Marcus thanked Alan and the Working Party for all their hard work in making this garden a peaceful, beautiful place for people to remember loved ones.

PCC Web notices – The minutes from September’s meeting will be placed on the website and a printed copy on the noticeboard. This will be updated once minutes of previous meetings are agreed.

Birthday Party – Marcus thanked everybody for birthday wishes and for attending his party in December.

5. Evangelism: February and Easter. Marcus reminded us that evangelism was sharing faith and finding ways to help family and friends to consider faith. Andy Economides returns on the weekend of 10 & 11 Feb. On the Saturday he will share practical tips to help share faith. On Sunday there will be a special Valentines service and copies of Andy’s book on Relationships will be given to wedding couples.
Our Sunday evening service will start a short 6 week course written by J John on how to share faith. Guy expressed concerns that this will exclude people who either cannot attend one of the weeks or cannot attend the evening service. Marcus said that it is beneficial to attend even one of the evenings, and there is also a book to accompany the course. If successful the course may be run during other times. Andy is back with us again for Easter, this again will provide wonderful opportunities to invite people to services. Maggie suggested that we advertise this in a prominent place, Marcus agreed and said he was thinking of ideas to facilitate this.

6. Church Hall: future thoughts continued. The PCC’s thoughts were canvassed following a presentation at the last PCC meeting by Davies Sutton Architects.
John felt that no positive information was given and that he didn’t get a clear picture of what was offered. Could we seek a second opinion from another firm? Stuart agreed with this. Maggie said that she had received a copy of the plans but was unable to consider them without costs being attached. Alan felt that we needed more information as we are currently not using the Hall to its full capacity. Richard wondered what brief the architects had been given and asked if we needed to be more specific. Guy felt that a working party should meet to discuss detail and return to the PCC and Ken thought it would be useful to see examples of similar work done to other churches.
Gill thought the steps on the corner of the church were an excellent idea, although Alan pointed out that the wall where the steps were proposed was a supporting wall and that they might be too steep, Stewart also pointed out that there was a Health and Safety risk with steps going straight onto a main road with no crossing.
Marcus suggested that we ask a second opinion from another firm and suggested one who is engaged on projects of a similar size and nature and who has also worked with St Catherine’s in the past. It was therefore suggested that we draw a line under the feasibility study done by Davies Sutton, thank them and pay them for the work received by us so far. We have received a bill, being reviewed by the RB. This was proposed by John and seconded by Guy. All in favour.
A working group was set up to meet with a second architect, consisting of: Marcus, David, Derek, Stewart, John, Stuart, Elspeth and Guy. This was proposed by John, seconded by Alan and agreed by all.

7. PCC Secretary/Treasurer – Val has asked to step down as PCC secretary, and Marcus has asked for volunteers to come forward to replace Val. She was thanked for her hard work. Stewart is also preparing to stand down as Treasurer, and in the meantime will take on an Assistant Treasurer to help and eventually take over the role. It was suggested that Rhian take this on. Proposed by Gill and seconded by Elspeth. All in favour.

8. AOB
Alan suggested that we write to Pontypridd Town Council to thank them for providing our Christmas tree this year. Marcus will arrange this.
Guy asked for an annual calendar to be displayed in church and on the web site with future events. Marcus will arrange this.
Maggie asked for a visitors/prayer request book to be available. Although there is one available in church, the wardens will ensure that it is more prominent.
Naomi asked for the loop system to be tested to ensure that it is working in all the pews. Wardens will arrange this.
Marcus has received a reminder that a PCC member be elected to the Diocesan conference and five PCC members be elected to the Area Deanery Conference. This will be effected at the Annual Congregation Meeting.
Jill has been made Verger.
Prayer requests for various church members were given.
BBC Radio Recording – We have been asked to record 2 radio broadcasts for BBC Radio Wales to be aired on Easter Sunday and the middle of June. Recording will take place provisionally on 14.03.07.

9. Date of Next Meeting
PCC Meeting – Monday 26 March 2007, ACM – Monday 23 April 2007

St Catherine's Prayer Network

2007-02-08T15:48:00.000Z

Now you can keep in touch with the prayer requests of our church via email.

Just send your name, the service you attend and your email address to prayer@st-caths.org and we'll send you back a word document with a list of all the other members' email address. We will also send you instructions about how to transfer the list into your email. You'll receive regular email bulletins of things to pray for.

When you have something you'd like the group to pray about, then email the prayer ring and Esther, who is heading this up, will pass it on in the next bulletin. If it needs instant prayer, we'll email the group directly.

Hopefully this will encourage us all to take a more active part in the prayer life of the church.

Given that this is on the web and anyone can access it, all names will be checked by the vicar just to make sure we aren't handing out details to total strangers! So - if you aren't a member of St Catherine's, please do pray for us, but at this time we're sorry the prayer ring probably isn't open to you.

PCC Minutes September 2006

2007-01-24T17:56:00.000Z

St Catherine’s PCC meeting
Monday 18th September 2006, in the church.

1. The meeting opened at 7.30 with a prayer, the hymn “Be still for the presence of the Lord” and a reading from Matthew 7

2. Apologies for absence were received.

3. Minutes of previous Meeting: Stuart proposed, John seconded with all in favour that the minutes be accepted.

4. Matters arising. Marcus gave brief updates on the following:-
a). Redecorating the nave – exhibition. The expected Lottery money came in.
b). Alpha report / prayer meetings. Kirsty will be starting a Youth Alpha course this term with a group of 6 or 7 teenagers. Prayers were asked for this venture. It is hoped that a Wednesday lunchtime Alpha course will start at the end of October. Attendance at the prayer meetings on Saturday is up and down, 24 being the most at the last 24 hour event.
c). Welcoming people into church:. David reported that a new rota was now in place
d. Children’s Work. Naomi gave details of how her work is going:
i) Holiday Club with Olympics theme – 35 children overall attended with 28-29 each day. The next event is planned for Easter 2007 but also looking at setting up an after school club on Tuesdays, volunteers needed.
ii) Naomi has done 7 school assemblies and is booked to November with Coedylan
iii) Mini Kidz is growing
iv) Children’s Church followed lectionary last year, this year they will be looking at characters from the Bible alphabetically.
v) Because of the amount of work needed the PCC were advised that Naomi’s hours have increased to 25 per week.
e. Projector and Camera. A demonstration of both was held, both Ian and Stuart commented that seeing the services on video/Dvd had been greatly appreciated by family members unable to attend services regularly and found the quality very good. Marcus confirmed that either video or DVD format was available.
f. Notice board. Rhian reported this was ongoing and awaiting final draft.
g. Library/ leaflets. Although the library part is happening Gill T said that we need to look at displaying leaflets/ magazines and suggested boards with plastic pockets
h. 24 hour worship. Marcus said the event had been great and that he was delighted by the support and turnout. Also on a personal note that he felt so well after the event, (not surprising when you spend 24hours with the Lord). He paid particular tribute to Assistant Bishop David who said he would tell and encourage other churches to put on similar events.
i. Mice. It was noted that rubbish generated is still not being cleared regularly. Rhian is in the process of purchasing plastic boxes with lids so that crockery can be stored cleanly and safely.
j. Bibles purchased for church members. Some Bibles have been sold, Marcus gave details of a special offer for September only that they will be sold at a reduced price of £10 rather than the original £15.

5. Next 24 hour Worship. Marcus outlined the events taking place. Bishop David will be there on Saturday and again on Sunday for the Confirmation being held. Esther asked if there are any candidates from St Caths; they are Derek, Jill, Ashley and Helen. Normal hospitality will be provided after the service but as we expect a large congregation that day Marcus will approach the Mothers Union to provide refreshments.

6 Sharing Faith. The meeting was asked to think about creatively sharing faith. It was suggested that a policy be put in place that once a year we focus on sharing faith. Val said this was something she found difficult, Gill T clarified that an expert would talk to us about sharing faith.
Marcus asked that the Harvest offering would go to Soteria Trust which runs a school in Nigeria. They now need a tertiary college to teach students skills. Andy Economides from the trust will be at St Caths in 3 weeks time to talk about his project, and he will be invited back at Easter for a weekend of Evangelism. The PCC were asked for and gave their views on this and a vote was taken on:-
a. The principle of having an annual outreach event - This was proposed by Val, seconded by Derek. With 1 abstention all others were in favour.
b. Inviting Andy Economides to help us share faith this year, and giving to the Soteria Trust. This was proposed by Ken, seconded Guy with all in favour.

7. Church Hall. The PCC were asked to consider two ideas.

Option 1. Look at a future possibility of running a playgroup which would be helping the community and the church. A working party has been looking at the feasibility of this and presented their costs and findings. Elspeth asked if there was a need as there are already local groups. We would need to reach the target number to cover costs but yes there appears to be a need. Naomi offered to do a report on an existing playgroup in a church. Gill M asked about it being a possible feeder for church schools. Maggie asked if cost of equipment for playgroup had been taken into account.

Option 2. If some work was to be done, why not go further…
The top floor of the church hall could be renovated to accommodate a lounge area for Mothers Union, an office for the Children’s worker, and a Sunday school room. We then were asked to look at connecting the church and the hall, Cadw having been consulted, and Davies Sutton architects asked to produce a feasibility study. There seem to be 3 ways to link the two buildings.
1. Cloister outside the vestry
2. From the West Porch across the West front of the church
3.Through the side wall of the church near the kitchen area..
There were several concerns raised including: the cost of feasibility survey (£6000), the moving of the kitchen area, and the effect on the windows. Marcus encouraged everyone to mention to him any matters that occurred to them. On the positive side Gill T has seen this done in other churches where it has worked well, Guy suggested that the hall could be hired out for wedding receptions and Derek reminded the meeting of our vision ‘ to grow’ the church.
A meeting will be held as soon as the feasibility study has been done.

9. Cleaning rota. This is not working. Three choices were given. Pay a cleaner, carry on with rota or hold monthly cleaning parties. It was proposed by Gill M, seconded by Alan W with all in favour that the monthly cleaning parties take place.

10. A.O.B
a. Rhian asked that minutes be on our web notice board. Proposed Naomi seconded Ian with all in favour.
b. Val asked if working party could think about getting more colour in garden of remembrance after comments from a visitor. Marcus will discuss this with working party.
c. Derek asked if it would be possible to removes kneelers from pews as would make cleaning easier. Think about discuss at a later date.

Date of next PCC meeting – Monday Dec 4th 2006

Teaching Evolution

2006-11-25T17:23:00.000Z

Matthew Jones, member of our youth group, writes:

Hi all! just wanted to start up a discussion and i've been meaning to do this for a while now...

During the GCSE biology course, evolution is taught as fact rather than opinion. Do you think this is the right thing to do?

When we studied it, I felt that it was not giving the children any freedom on the matter, it was more like "this is the world, this is how we got here and that's it"

So the question I want to put up for discussion is this: Should evolution be taught as fact in schools?In my own opinion, I do not think so. I believe it should be taught, as everyone has a right to say what they wish, but not taught as fact.

The 24/7 Church

2006-10-15T20:14:00.000+01:00

St Catherine’s Pontypridd has just completed its second twenty-four hour worship event in four months. From lunch time on Saturday October 14th to lunchtime Sunday October 15th, there was constant worship in the church, as church members and others joined together to celebrate the heart of their Christian faith.

Vicar Marcus Green says the vision for the event began last February, when he and a group of parishioners were skiing in Switzerland. “ I heard a sermon in a little church in the alps which made me think about how much worshipping God matters to us; and if it matters, we should do something big to make the point”.

To do it once was remarkable enough – and the event in June was a considerable success; but to follow it up with a second one so quickly must have been risky!”Indeed,” commented church warden David Carver, “but I think the second one was even better – somehow a deeper experience of God.”

The day was split into 24 sections, with something different almost every hour. There was an hour of traditional hymns, and also a rock band leading the worship; there was jazz worship and choral Taize (from France) worship. Artist Cas Smith painted for an hour and drew people in worship as she did so. The Kidz Praise was enthusiastically received. Through the night there was a reading of the book of Revelations interspersed by music from Dan and Kirsty Jones, professional musicians who lead much of St Catherine’s worship. At 6am they even wrote a new song which was then written out for the choir and everyone to learn at the 11am service!

Revd Paul Thompson, vicar of Lisvane, and head of New Wine Cymru, spoke at the main Saturday evening gathering. He challenged everyone to take the day seriously: worship reveals who or what we put first in life. If we say it is God – is it really?

Bishop David Yeoman took the 11am Sunday service, which was also the Pontypridd Confirmation Service. He said that the whole venture was a true inspiration which revealed a church that was gloriously given to worshipping God: “The hymn writer says ‘seven whole days not one in seven I will praise Thee’ – but this is a church which 24/7 is about praise!”

A Simple Quiz

2006-09-24T13:31:00.000+01:00

Following requests, here is the quiz we had this morning. If you weren't there - don't cheat! Answer them all before scrolling down to the answers!

1. How long did the Hundred Years War last?

2. Which country makes Panama hats?

3. From which animal do we get catgut?

4. In which month do Russians celebrate the October Revolution?

5. What is a camel's hair brush made of?

6. The Canary Islands are named after what animal?

7. What was King George VI's first name?

8. What colour is a purple finch?

9. Where are Chinese gooseberries from?

10. What is the colour of the black box in a commercial airplane?

All done? Simple! So scroll down...

A bit further...

Just to stop you cheating when doing the quiz!

OK - here are the answers:

1. 116 years

2. Ecuador

3. Sheep and horses

4. November

5. Squirrel fur.

6. Dogs

7. Albert

8. Crimson

9. New Zealand.

10. Orange, of course.

If it's any consolation, the 8am service got 5/10, and both AllSaints and the 11am congregation got 4/10...

Sharing Faith

2006-09-17T22:05:00.000+01:00

A sharing faith suggestion.

We've recently been talking about sharing faith and how to share faith. J. John spoke about this at Soul Survivor and today in church Marcus encouraged us to read, 'The Life - A portrait of Jesus' by J. John. Remembering Stuart Franklin's suggestion that we should all try and bring someone to church - why don't we as a congregation expand on this by using a J. John idea. Each member of the congregation could try and give a book about Jesus to one non-christian friend or more than one non-christian friend (and then invite them to church!).

Kirsty x

What do we stand for?

2006-08-26T22:53:00.000+01:00

What do we stand for?

All our readings today are about making a stand: Joshua calls his people to make a stand and worship God and no-one else; Jesus calls the disciples to make a stand and accept his words and his claims; and St Paul in Ephesians 6 calls us to constantly stand firm in our faith, and offers good, practical help for us in doing so.

But what do we stand for? Where do we make a stand as a church? What causes us to be excited and challenged and definite in our calling as God's people at St Catherine's?

The following is an outline I am giving to everyone who comes to church today, an outline of what we stand for. First there are attitudes, things that undergird us as a church. These are not foundational truths (the love of God, the cross of Christ, the Resurrection, the Holy Spirit indwelling all believers, the Scriptures, the fellowship of believers etc) but rather attitudes of faith in God that cause us to act in certain ways. So - if we believe God loves all people, guess what - we have to too! And then there are our Mission Aims. These are part of our Mission Statement as a church, three words which can be found on our logo and on our notice board, and all over our web site. But I then add small pointers to explain more and to tie these in with the attitudes section.

Read it, comment on it, and ask this question: if our church really was like this and worked like this, wouldn't it be a great church? Then why should we stand for less?

Attitudes

Love
· No-one is unimportant
· Everyone is valuable
· Dignity and respect for all, especially those with whom we disagree
The Church That Can
· No room for cynicism (which is the enemy of faith)
· Everyone can play – all are gifted in some way
· Cultivate a natural positive way
Growth Is Normative
· We expect to grow closer to God
· We expect to draw others closer to God
· Good News is infectious!

Mission Aims

Worship
· We express our love for God and receive His love for us.
Do we come to church prepared to worship?
Do we read God's words of love to us often enough?
Are we like two lovers on the telephone, unable to say goodbye, or is it easy to leave worship?
· Enthusiasm comes from the Greek for “in God”.
Would people know this of our worship? Let’s make it so!
· We seek to grow closer to Him & to draw others on the same journey
How often have we seen a film or a play or a show and just had to tell people and take them to it? How often have we felt like that about church?
Evangelism
· We share faith with (and because of) love: this is NOT a project!
People are people, and must be offered the chance to receive Christ as we would wish to.
· Everyone can share their faith.
We just need to learn how.
· Attractively and infectiously – i.e. naturally!
Compassion
· We offer dignity and respect for all, regardless of background or status or appearance.
Jesus cared for the poor and the leper; and he cared for them with love. That's our bench mark.
· We work hard to find ways of caring, and we bless those who are particularly good at this.
Zeal for others is not to be sniffed at but admired and blessed.
· Matthew 25: we do it for Jesus, which draws us (and those we care for) closer to Him

Learning to Speak

2006-08-23T16:17:00.000+01:00

At Passion For Your Name conference this week, I heard a terrific talk by evangelist J John. Somewhere in the middle of his forty minutes presentation he said something like this:

"If you want to learn to dive a car, you take lessons. If you want to learn a musical instrument, you take lessons. Why do we think it's different with God? If you want to learn to share your faith, take lessons!"

So: I think we need to take lessons. I'm looking into courses we can do, but also if any member of the church really enjoys telling people about Jesus, or thinks that faith sharing might be part of what you are good at, do let me know. We all need some skills, but I am hoping that a few people might see this as something they want to go much further with.

Let me know!

Marcus

Almighty God / Happy Day

2006-08-18T10:12:00.000+01:00

Or whilst we're dealing with new songs, have a listen to this, Almighty God, again by Tim Hughes. The version you are hearing is in Bb, which for my money is a little high... but then most songs are! Here are the words and chords in A, a bit lower.

I guess I have realised that I am using songs I have been using for ages, and one of the reasons I find myself less keen to spend time worshipping is that I need new stimulation. So I'm on the look out for new songs!

And on that journey I also found a great new Resurrection song. We do songs about the cross really well; but how many focus on the Resurrection? Tim's new website has a new song most months, and this one, for August 2006, is his own version of O Happy Day. Click here to hear it (It's the Worship Central homepage; go to the bottom of the page and click on the new song, which for August is Happy Day; I guess it may go after August, but presumably there'll be another song next month - and explore the site anyway, I rather like it). Or for just words and chords, try this link.

I do enjoy Tim's songs. Let me know what you think.

Marcus

Everything

2006-08-17T13:50:00.000+01:00

So I am going to get the ball rolling.

Last week at the New Wine Cymru conference, Richard Wood used a song I've heard before and never really used in worship: "Everything" by Tim Hughes. If you want to listen, click here, and just to read the words, try here.I think it's a fantastic song. Simple, based on a Celtic prayer, but with a real soul, and as it reaches its climax, a real power to move the soul.

Anybody else agree? I think this is a definite inclusion in our new songbook.

Marcus

Welcome!

2006-08-16T15:05:00.000+01:00

Welcome! This is the blog page for our parish here in Pontypridd, South Wales. All members of our parish may post an article or poem or song or thought; there is a form to fill in on our main website www.st-caths.org and then the blog master will post it for you. Anyone at all may post a comment after an article has been published! So let's get blogging...