| To get to our online services, click here. You can always find them by going to our website: www.cranbourneanglican.org.au/online-service. If you’d like to join us for a virtual morning tea (video conferencing) 11am Sunday the 16th of August, click here at 11am Sunday. Meeting ID: 291 757 7519 Password: 444240 |
Dear church family,
This week we’re taking a break from our Galatians series and have the very great privilege of hearing a sermon from the Rev’d Dr Peter Adam on Psalm 31, a Psalm the tells out the truth that in times of trouble, God is our refuge and rock, and calls us to trust in Him. Peter Adam is vicar emeritus at St. Jude’s Carlton, and was the principal of Ridley College here in Melbourne, when I studied there. He’s written various books and has lectured and preached all over the world. He is an excellent and wise preacher, and I’m looking forward to being encouraged and blessed as we sit under the word he brings.
Below read on for an opportunity to see and respond to our draft Mission and Vision Statement, to hear news from our Parish Council meeting and an update on our financial position.
May God bless and encourage you this weekend.
Sam Bleby
Minister | Parish of Cranbourne
St John’s Cranbourne | Christ Church Tooradin
Draft Vision and Mission
This year we’ve spent time listening to God through personal and corporate prayer, we’ve listened to each other through our online survey and listened to the community with our community survey and as we’ve looked at the demographics of our area. Your Ministry Advisory Committee has worked hard to take your feedback into account and has now produced a Draft Mission and Vision Statement. The mission is why we exist, what we’re here to be and to do. It needs to be short and memorable so we can be clear about our purpose. The Vision uses our mission as its organising principle, and is our prayerful imaginings of what under God our Parish will look like in five years time. We’ve also made this very targeted, with three dot points under each area. Have a look at it by clicking here. Then email Sam with any feedback – this is very much a draft and so a living document, we’re still refining it and would love your help in doing that. Of course, we can’t incorporate every suggestion, but your feedback will be heard, valued and taken into account as we look to finalise it through our MAC and at our Parish Council in October.
Once finalised, our mission and vision statement will be developed into a Mission Action Plan that sets out concrete actions and timeframes – practically the steps we will take to achieve our vision over the next 5 years.
Parish Council – August 2020
Your parish council met on Tuesday night. Our main focus for the meeting was to review the Draft Mission and Vision Statement produced by our Ministry Advisory Committee. It was overwhelmingly approved with a few suggestions for how it might be tweaked. We noted the impact of the stage 4 restrictions, the encouraging start to our Alpha Online course, the start of a new small group and the resumption of Youth Group online. Naturally, we also spent some time on the finances – for more details on this front, see below.
Financial Update
July Update
Last November we set a budget that looked to support a growth in mission and ministry for our parish – of course not anticipating the extraordinary year 2020 would prove to be! Who would have thought we’d have gone almost 5 months without meeting in person at church? Of course this has meant the budget has been significantly impacted both through a decrease in weekly giving and the lack of income from hiring out our facilities. Our income for the year to date (church years run from October to the end of September) is about $226,000, which is about $68,000 below budget. Blessedly, our expenses are considerably down for the year, and we have received good support from JobKeeper, the State Government, and concessions from the diocese around loan repayments and assessment. We had also budgeted for a surplus. This means our financial position, while not wonderful, is not as dire as those figures might otherwise suggest, and I have great confidence we’ll get through a year that many churches and other organisations may not. I’m immensely thankful to God for the faithful giving of so many, especially in this time when we have been unable to meet and many face financial challenges. I have also been very encouraged by our vision and mission process, and have a strong sense that God is calling us as a community into the many good things he’s prepared for us to do as we glorify Him, grow in faith and number, and go tell out the wonderful news of our Lord Jesus Christ.
If you feel God is calling you to start giving to the work of the parish, or would like to change from envelope giving to electronic during this period, the bank details are below:
| St John’s, Cranbourne |
| BSB: 083 214 |
| Account: 596 278 950 |
| Christ Church, Tooradin |
| BSB: 633 000 |
| Account: 138 728 704 |
Reminder – Stage 4 restrictions on church entry
Just a reminder that Now that we are under Stage 4 restrictions, we have been advised by the Archbishop that “nobody is allowed to be in churches, op shops or on church premises… This prohibition also applies to accessing church buildings for any reason“.