Church Warden's Report, as presented at Emmanuel Church's 2009 Annual Meeting for the period 2008/2009.
We continue to feel very privileged to be worshipping in Béthanie. It has been a joy to welcome new members to Emmanuel and we are working on developing our life together. The year though has also been marked by significant changes.
Farewell to Father Matthew, Kate & Family
To begin with the most recent but most significant change: On 4th January 2009 we bade a sad farewell to Father Matt as he left after eight exceptionally rich years with us to take up the position of Canon Pastor at St. Edmundsbury Cathedral in Suffolk, England. Our celebration and good-bye party took the form of a Ceilidh on 13th December 2008, complete with presentation of an Asian carpet and a special Hong Kong book for each of the children. On the Vernon's last Sunday (4th January 2009) we presented them with a "Keepsake Album" filled with photos and well-wishes and shared a congregational brunch together. We continue to uphold them in our prayers as they settle into this new phase of life.
Interim Priest
As of 18th January 2009, we have been greatly blessed to have the Reverend Canon David Pickering as our Interim Priest. The life of Emmanuel is being enriched by both him and his wife, Christine. In this transitional time, we are appreciating David's leadership and support as many people share the various responsibilities and tasks required to keep congregational life running smoothly.
Finding the Next Permanent Priest-in-Charge
Dean Andrew, the two Cathedral Trustees and Emmanuel's two Wardens have been handling the search for a new Cathedral Chaplain / Priest-in-Charge of Emmanuel. We had an excellent response to the Advert posted in the Church Times in November, 2008 and after initial telephone interviews with a number of candidates, two short-listed candidates have been invited to Hong Kong in late April, 2009 for the final phase of the process.
Other key changes
We have experienced a significant change-over in Church Wardens. With David Lenan's passing in February 2008, Thomas Abraham moved into the role of Priest's Warden. After 8 years of dedicated service, Mary Haigh stepped down as People's Warden in September 2008 and was replaced by Colleen Nichol. Then in January 2009 Thomas accepted a 6-month consultancy position with the WHO in Geneva, whereupon Jeremy Gadbury kindly agreed to take on the position of Priest's Warden.
The Emmanuel Committee saw changes as well with May Large stepping down in December as Secretary after 12 years of very dedicated service. Happily, Susan Stevenson took over as our new Secretary in January. At the same time, the Coordinators of the various tasks were asked to join the Committee so that planning and communication could be more effective. This has been a very worthwhile development.
Sunday Worship
Our primary activity is our Services on Sunday mornings. We meet as the body of Christ to worship, pray and deepen our love for God and for each other.
Sunday Services
Physical additions this year have included two lovely Chinese ceramic Baptismal Fonts and a hymn book / Bible trolley which has facilitated the setting up process for worship.
The 9:00am Eucharist on the first Sunday of the month (which was begun in December 2007) has proven to be much appreciated. It is a quieter, more reflective service without Sunday School. The 10.15am Service on the first Sunday of the month has been a Family Service.
Highlights in our worship have included:
- the annual visit of the Cantata Choir (25th May 2008)
- two services which included lay preaching by Colleen Nichol (8th June 2008 and 12th October 2008)
- RTHK broadcast of our service on 12th October 2008
- First Communion for 3 of the older children on 30th November (after a series of Communion classes with Father Matt)
- Christmas Eve Midnight Mass at Béthanie
- our joint Palm Sunday service and brunch with St. Timothy's in Wah Fu, this time beginning at Emmanuel and processing (by coach) to St. Timothy's
- a Maundy Thursday Eucharist
- baptisms of Emmanuel Church children
Sunday School
A high proportion of our members are families with children and Sunday School continues to play a vital role in providing for our younger members. Thanks are due to our Sunday School Co-ordinators, Lucy Barrett and Kate Moore and all the Sunday School teachers for the excellent job they do for our 70 enthusiastic Sunday School aged children. A special feature this past year was welcoming author Dot Newman for her reading of "Dragon's Back" and this was complemented by a display of books from the Cathedral Bookstore. On other occasions Mimi Brown, Laura Mitchell and Iain Carmichael led the children in singing both during Sunday School and for some special worship services.
Noise Levels
Given the acoustics in the Béthanie chapel and our growing number of children, last year one of our goals was to deal sensitively and successfully with noise levels. The situation has greatly improved with the use of a microphone and with the Sunday School teachers encouraging the children to return quietly and gently to church after their Sunday School sessions.
Music
Music and hymns are a key part of our worship. We were saddened to say good-bye to Susan Kuyper during the summer of 2008 and more recently to Mimi Brown as they both had provided excellent music leadership. We continue to greatly appreciate the commitment of our main organist, Bryan Carter, as well as Piers Colvin, Dave Werner and Gigi Lam.
In September we took delivery of our new hymn books (Church Hymnary 4) which bear a label in memory of David Lenan who passed away on 3rd February 2008. These are providing us with a larger choice of hymns from within our church tradition and style of worship. Our worship service on 21st September 2008 was greatly enhanced by Geoff Weaver who, for the dedication and launching of our hymn book, led us through many new and traditional hymns.
Our worship has been enhanced further by the exciting arrival in December 2008 of our new Allen organ (Protégé L-4). Our thanks to all who were involved in the selection process (Father Matt, Bryan Carter, Piers Colvin, Susan Kuyper and Dave Werner) and to Dave Werner in particular for helping to install it.
Numbers
While our weekly attendance has varied with some Sundays reaching over 100 (eg. Christmas 130; the Vernon's last service 161; Easter 180), we regularly have had on average 80 people at our 10:15 services. Our once-a-month 9:00am service has averaged between 15 and 20 worshipers. It has been encouraging that these numbers have remained consistent even in this time of transition.
Developing Emmanuel
One of the developments arising out of last year's "Growing Healthy Churches" workshop and follow-up discussions has been our "Welcoming Evenings". These provide opportunities for those who are new to Emmanuel to meet the 'not-so-new', to find out more about our congregational life and for all to have some leisurely fellowship with one another.
Further helping us to keep in touch with each other is our new Church Members' Directory. Our gratitude to Susan Stevenson for accomplishing this significant feat.
Thanks to our new webmaster, we have a church website that has had a facelift and is up-dated with great regularity. In addition to the latest sermon, prayers, notices and a RSS feed, the site features archived sermons back to 2004, a running two-month calendar, detailed directions to Béthanie and much more. (http://www.emmanuel.org.hk)
Participation and Ownership
Thanks are due to the people who work hard each week to ensure our Services run smoothly and are of high quality: from those who set up, to welcomers, to musicians, to readers and intercessors, to refreshment providers and so on. We continue to encourage greater participation in these tasks. On 11th May 2008 we had a 'Commitment Sunday' which enabled people to indicate via a commitment form the areas in which they could help out. The decision to designate a Coordinator for each of these main areas has been very successful with the Coordinators listed each week on the back of the Pew Sheet.
Community Life
As the body of Christ it is good to deepen our fellowship as we seek to be Christ to each other. We hold monthly 'bring and share' Church Brunches after the Service. We had a family outing to Shek O in October and a hugely successful Quiz Night in February.
Our Midweek Group continues to meet on Thursday evenings. This year our discussions and viewing have focused on spirituality and explorations of other faiths. Two book studies of particular value were Henri Nouwen's Return of the Prodigal Son and throughout Lent Stephen Cottrell's The Things He Carried. The group has regular attendees of 8-12, but all are welcome to come regularly or occasionally.
Links with St. John's Cathedral and Daughter Churches
In May 2008 representatives from Emmanuel enjoyed an "Away Day" with representatives from St. John's Cathedral, St. Stephen's and Discovery Bay Church. Emmanuel contributed to the Michaelmas Fair through its Face Painting Stall and during worship on February 15th we enjoyed the presence of many participants in the Parish-wide HDH Charity Walk.
Community Links
We continue to maintain our links in the Pokfulam community. This year we:
- Welcomed the Cantata Choir (former Ebenezer School students) and shared a congregational Brunch with them after the service.
- Donated Harvest Gifts to Ebenezer School for the Visually Impaired.
- Served mulled wine and home-made mince pies at the Kennedy School Night Market with the proceeds going to the school.
- Sang carols around Pokfulam on 2 evenings (Middleton Towers and in the Bisney area).
- Donated Christmas gifts to St. James Settlement and Tung Chung Integrated Services.
- Donated the Quiz Night profits to the Society for the Relief of Disabled Children ($16,000!).
Other Areas
A number of other areas await our attention. These include developing our advertising and links with the students of Hong Kong University, the APA and the Vocational Training Institute; providing ministry with teenagers; developing our use of music; expanding Stewardship initiatives; creating other avenues for nurturing our spiritual lives as individuals and as a church.
Finally
We now look forward with anticipation to the appointment of a new permanent Priest-in-Charge who will help us continue to grow in ways that express to both those within our fellowship and in our surrounding community "Emmanuel – God with us".
Colleen Nichol, Emmanuel Church Warden
April 2009.
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