Priest's Report, as presented at Emmanuel Church's 2004 Annual Meeting for the period 2003/2004.
Annual Report
The story of the Road to Emmaus is a good one for our church and for today, our annual meeting. There are 4 things to highlight in relation to our annual meeting.
- The disciples were on a journey. Each of us is on our journey of faith, and we are together on Emmanuel's journey of faith. In the story Jesus comes alongside the disciples on their journey.
- We are a church that celebrates the Eucharist every week. In the story the disciples recognise Jesus in the breaking of the bread.
- The disciples felt the fire of faith in their hearts and we do too - the joy of faith and of awareness of God. This comes, in part, through a new way of relating to each other that Christ gives us through his death and resurrection. We are all forgiven, loved and given peace and joy. Jesus' death and resurrection enable us to see each other as God sees us and so relate to each other in love and in community.
- The disciples rush back to Jerusalem to tell the others. We too are called to share our faith. This isn't straightforward on an individual basis. But if we as a church can display something of the fire in our hearts and this new way of relating in love, then others will be drawn to God's love in us too.
So to my annual report.
Congratulations to us all for another good year at Emmanuel. We have enjoyed a number of new developments this year, as well as maintaining healthy traditions.
Worship
In September we changed rooms at West Island School, to the multi-purpose room on the 3rd floor. The room makes for a better Worship Space and has allowed us to improve our layout with more room for worship, space for the crèche and a better welcome/refreshments area. The room's glass wall lets in a lot of natural light. The Sunday School can meet in the other half of the room. We continue to enjoy the school's ample car park and air-conditioning!
We now have Common Worship Orders of Service for the whole year: Advent; Lent; Easter and Ordinary Time. This year we held Family Services to bless our new room, for Remembrance Sunday, and in Advent with a Nativity Play; as well as Harvest Festival, Candlemas, and Mothering Sunday once again. Christmas and Easter were also Family Eucharists. For Palm Sunday we joined again with St. Luke's, Kennedy Town for a great celebration and coming together.
Building Community
As always, during the last year we have said farewell to some Emmanuel people as they moved from Hong Kong, and we have welcomed new members. Overall our numbers remain about the same. Attendance figures on Sundays only give part of the picture as not all regular attendees come every week, and other "fringe" members come occasionally.
This year we have been working on getting to know each other better and building our sense of community. In December we started our new Midweek Group. On Thursday evenings we come together for informal discussion and an opportunity to get to know each other better. We are indebted to David and Esther Lenan for hosting the group so far. Our discussions have covered a wide range of topics: from what we want for Christmas, to the BBC's Son of God video, to Lent and Christ and the Chocolaterie.
In November we held a Crazy Dinner Auction to raise money for the Cathedral Endowment Fund. This proved a great success, financially and socially. Another innovation was the Shrove Tuesday Pancake party. We once more painted faces at the Michaelmas Fair, served mulled wine at the Kennedy School Night Market and serenaded Pokfulam residents with Christmas Carols.
We have had Discussion Sermons on two occasions. In September we reflected on what kind of church Emmanuel should be, and in March we discussed the use of our gifts and talents as part of the Stewardship campaign. These have worked well, providing an alternative to the normal sermon format, and an opportunity to hear each other's views.
We continued the discussion about the nature of Emmanuel with an evening in October when we discussed ideas for developing Emmanuel. Our Midweek Group, for example, arose out of that. Advertising Emmanuel was another topic. After considering a number of options, we have begun distributing professionally-printed, occasional postcards to Pokfulam flats. The first of those was for Easter and 1000 cards were distributed. We are also working on our inviting people to church and holding social events that we can invite fringe members and new people to.
Community Links
We have healthy links with the Pokfulam Community, through Emmanuel links and individuals. These are with Ebenezer School for the Visually Imparied, Kennedy School, the Riding School for the Disabled, and West Island School. Our link with Ebenezer in particular has grown this year as we've donated items of furniture and money, have provided individual help and have invited the former students choir to sing at Emmanuel on 16th May. Our hope to visit English speaking patients at Queen Mary Hospital continue to be on hold due to post Sars visiting regulations, though Matt visits people in hospital occasionally.
It is a pleasure and a privilege to be your Priest-in-Charge. Thank you for all your support and commitment to Emmanuel and to each other. We are a healthy church, which I feel fortunate and proud to be part of. I'm looking forward to the coming year: to us further developing our activities; growing as God's family; and continuing to provide an English-language Anglican church in Pokfulam.
Reverend Matthew Vernon, Priest-in-Charge.
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