1

Minutes of Springfield Church AGM

25th

April 2010

1. Welcome and Notices: Will Cookson

2. Worship: led by Jenni Botfield

3. Reading: 2 Corinthians 15

4. Apologies for absence: Phil Campbell

5. Vestry Meeting:

Bill Garry (nominated Hazel Dimmock, seconded Caryl Clements) Jean Grima (nominated Sandie Henderson, seconded Sue Cooke) were unanimously elected as churchwardens for the coming year

6. Minutes of 2009 meeting:

Proposed Nick Botfield, seconded Maggie Barnard and accepted unanimously as a true and correct record.

7. Matters Arising: none

8. Treasurers Report: Will Cookson apologised that tithe payments from last June/July

had been forgotten, but will be doubled this year to keep up with our target.

David Silcock reported on the giving pattern having tapered slightly until our recent Gift Day, then highlighted our main expenditure areas and in/out money movements. There were no questions.

9. 2010 Budget David Silcock then presented the 2010 budget:

Income expected £213,500, planned outgoings £218,000 This was a low rise of approximately 1% over 2008, achieved by prudent budgeting and a freeze on any staff salary increase. In answer to a question, it was explained that the three marquees owned by the church are lent at no cost to members of the congregation, both for church/cell events and personal use. The church office holds a booking diary. Acceptance of the accounts was proposed Bill Garry, seconded Lin Pickstock and accepted nem.con. David was thanked for all his hard work

10. Elections: There were 5 vacancies on the PCC: the candidates were

Becca Watkins: proposed Carolyn Churchyard, seconded Helen Campbell Margaret Boardman: proposed Maggie Welsh, seconded George Dow Chris White: proposed Maggie Barnard, seconded Luc Ray-Mathur

2

Nick Botfield: proposed Julie Cushion, secondedChris Sammons Michel Masasama: proposed Ray Cross, seconded Angela Baker All candidates were duly elected and Will thanked all those who had stood down over the past year: Carole Kerr, Sue Cooke, Sue Bosley and Basil Jeffery ###### Coffee and cake was served, and children collected ######

11. Reports: People were invited to read all the reports at their leisure, and raise any

questions at a later date. Will gave a massive thank you to all those who were part of

the ministries mentioned in the reports over the past year

12. Interviews: Becca interviewed Ryan Stoneham on the wide variety of positive

influences Springfield had had in his Christian walk

Ana Connolly gave a moving testimony on the course of her daughter Rosanna’s illness over the past year, ending with heartfelt thanks to God for the answering of prayer, and thanks to all at Springfield for their prayers and support. Harry Wedge gave a short testimony Chris White spoke of her trip to Israel with Springfield; her baptism, and how the bible came to life for her.

13. Song: Harvey gave voice to a musical reflection on Springfield’s year which was

received with rapturous applause.

14. A year in the life: The annual picture show of all that had happened at Springfield

over the year was warmly received.

15. Minister’s Report: Will Cookson addressed the congregation:

He reflected on how Springfield has grown, from the establishing of cells and nurturing our roots, to moving into healthy growth with all playing a part in their God-given roles, with God blessing us with growth from around 170 to an average of 235 people each Sunday this January. Mere growth is not enough though, we need to multiply to survive and not stagnate. Will then addressed the reasons for a second congregation: We have good structures in place with our cells, pastoral care, the river/lake approach to ministries, our values which are embedded in our ‘dna’ and our prayer. Of course we could do some stuff better, but what we do is great. The circumstances: we have been asked to plant and God is pouring His blessing on us so we can move forward with confidence. We will still be one church supporting each other as much changes over the coming year for all of us, but he is convinced that God is calling us to plant a new congregation, and gave thanks to God for the past, and thanks to God for the future.

3

16. A.O.B. Will spoke of the need to appoint an extra churchwarden so that the two

congregations could be properly supported. He then expanded the principle to

possible future growth at Springfield, with the congregation voting on the following

proposal:

“Recognising the value of each new congregation, Springfield would like to ensure that they are always represented in the wardens team & PCC, and therefore as of the 2011 AGM, we would like to appoint an assistant warden for every new congregation that is created.” Proposed Luc Ray-Mathur, seconded Cathy Brearley, all in favour. Bill Garry then said thank you to Will for his ministry and leadership over the past year.

17. The meeting closed with a blessing

4

5

Chairman’s Report

“Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more

than all we can ask or imagine, 21

to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all

generations, forever and ever. Amen.” Eph 4:20-21

It is always a privilege to look back at all God has been up to each year in and through

Springfield. This past year has certainly been no exception.

Having had a year of consolidation and preparation in 2009 this past year has seen some

very exciting developments for us as a church.

Over the past year we have seen the continued focus by cell groups – supporting one

another – reaching out to friends, neighbours and family with innovative events – caring for

others through charities that they support. Cells, at their heart, are involved with the lives of

others, because God has involved Himself with us. We see this too in our larger scale church

events such as Feast in the Field, the Holiday Club and Voyage of the Dawn Treader.

There were too some major developments at Springfield in the past year.

The first one saw the total overhaul of our presence on the web. We launched our new

website in September and have already seen the value of it. A number of people have tried

Springfield out or joined Springfield having found out about us on the web. In addition the

ability to share information, sermons, cell notes, pictures of events etc has helped those

already in the church to keep up with all that is going on. This is especially important as we

grow in numbers and diversity. Over time we will continue to enhance our presence on the

web.

The second, and very exciting, development was our long-planned second congregation

launched in St Paul’s, Roundshaw last October. It was conceived as an alternative Café-

church congregation, held at the same time as the Wallington Girls congregation. It was

with much trepidation that we set this congregation up but God has opened all the doors all

the way along. The Vicar of St Michael’s & St Paul’s has welcomed us in; God has raised up a

great leadership team and already the congregation is averaging over 40 people each week

(with 25 committing to pave the way from the Wallington congregation).

Then thirdly, the visit by a team of us to the RUSH project in Kenya has had a profound

effect on us as a church. Not only were the team going to Kakamega in Kenya effected but I

know that many followed our visit and are keen to go out in the future. I think that this will

be an important part of developing our mission focus overseas.

Then on top of everything the Diocese has given us a curate to train. Donna has a passion

for engaging in apologetics for the Christian faith and we very much look forward to

welcoming Donna Lazenby in July to join us for the next few years. Donna is married to

Chris, and she will be living in Kenley where Chris is the Vicar.

Now, we aren’t without our own issues. Illness and economic downturn have both played

their parts in the life of the church. Among the stories of God’s healing we have also

experienced loss and grief. Our focus on prayer and worship needs to be kept central to our

6

life together. It can be easy to see the wonderful growth of the church and all the exciting

things going on and not be rooted in a life of prayer and worship.

We have also been affected by the economic downturn. We have seen our regular income

decline for the first time in many years as a result, leaving a larger than expected hole in our

finances. Thankfully, we have the funds that Lewis left last year to us but this will only last a

short time. Given how God is blessing us at the moment and our growth at the moment we

have taken the decision to continue as we are in terms of expenditure as we are seeing the

benefit of all that we are doing. We also know that we have a faithful God who will provide

for us and help us as a community.

To see the excitement in the past year and the growth in the church (with over 40 people

joining Springfield in the past year) is amazing. But I believe that God has so much more in

store for us in the future.

Will Cookson

7

Warden’s Report

As in previous years 2010 was another exciting and challenging 12 months for us as Church

Wardens. You may be aware, Jean was very much part of the Steering Group that set up and

planned our new congregation at Roundshaw, Jean has continued as a member at

Roundshaw so that effectively divided our responsibilities.

Establishing our Roundshaw congregation was a major part of Springfield’s planned growth

and development and as wardens we were delighted to have the opportunity to be a part of

it. We can all look forward now to playing a part in continuing God’s work in both our

congregations and developing our joint fellowship.

Not all the activity has been at Roundshaw as WHSG continues to grow healthily, we seem

now to need the same amount of chairs put out each Sunday and it is with extreme

gratitude and appreciation that we thank everyone for all their magnificent help and

support each Sunday in both our places of worship.

From a PCC and business perspective changes in the charities act has meant that every

church is required individually to be registered as a charity. This has been a particular hurdle

to overcome, preparing trust deeds etc. but by the time of the annual meeting we hope to

have completed all formalities and Springfield Church will be an officially registered charity.

On behalf of all our congregation we extend a huge thank you to Will for his dedicated and

much appreciated Ministry and Leadership throughout the year. Also our thanks and

appreciation to Angie and family for opening their home and for the many contributions

they make to Springfield.

With all the many facets and activities of Springfield of which we ourselves are particularly

aware, our extreme thanks and appreciation must also be extended to our dedicated centre

staff, Sue, Becca, Ann and Nigel. Also we would like to extend a big thank to the other

members of our staff team, Chris White and Angie Cookson their huge contribution to our

Children’s’ and Cell ministries. Ana Connolly also joined this year as web administrator and

we were pleased to welcome her to this new and challenging role.

God Bless

Jean & Bill

8

PCC According to Wikipedia – “The principal functions and purpose of the PCC, is the

responsibility of co-operating with the incumbent (Will) in promoting the mission of the

Church in its parish. A PCC consists of the clergy and churchwardens of the parish, together

with a number of representatives of the laity elected at the Annual Parochial Church

Meeting by means of being nominated and seconded at the meeting, and also being listed

on the parish roll for at least six months. The incumbent (Will) is the chairman of the PCC

and a lay member is appointed vice-chairman. The PCC must meet at least four times a

year.” what it really means is a group of people from Springfield Church that meet every two

months to discuss, debate – sometimes lively, sometimes lengthy, and occasionally rather

dully, the business of running Springfield. We are an eclectic bunch from different back

grounds, with various experiences and skills, but we all have one thing in common, the

desire to see God’s glory shine in Wallington and for Springfield to be a place of hope and

belonging. I hope we manage to go someway towards enabling Will and the Springfield

team to achieve this with God’s help and guidance. I would recommend a spell on board

with the PCC, if only to understand the day to day running of Springfield and the effort and

dedication given by the team into creating a place for people to come and meet with God,

but I suspect you may get more out of it than you expect.

Nick Botfield

Cells Cells are small groups within the larger church community, where people can meet together

and with God, to share their journey with Jesus. (Cells are nothing to do with prisons or

terrorist groups!)

Cells are integral to the life of Springfield. As we see our community grow it is hugely

important to keep cells central. It is very easy as a church grows in numbers for relationships

to suffer.

Cells give space for being involved and belonging to a smaller community. They are a great

place to support, encourage & pray for one another, a place to invite your friends and a

place to be challenged & grow.

It was really exciting to see the Cushion cell multiply in the autumn. Multiplication brings

mixed emotions but the birth of a new cell (in this case the Swan Cell) brings space and

opportunity for other people to join a life-giving community.

Two cells have been established in the Roundshaw congregation which is encouraging. We

are trusting and praying that it won’t be too long until a new cell group is birthed.

Since the last AGM we have held 3 cell leader training courses for over 30 leaders and co-

leaders in the church. The course is held over three sessions covering 1) Why do cell? 2) The

values of cell 3) Cell group structure with practical aids to leading a cell.

I meet bi-monthly with cell leaders & co-leaders & on the alternate month with the cell

pastors for training, feedback and encouragement.

9

It has been exciting to see God’s hand at work bringing new cell pastors to the team: Tim

Samuel and David Farodoye. Ben Quartey-Papafio is part of the Roundshaw congregation

where he assists Sue Bosley in pasturing the cells there.

The cell pastors play a crucial role supporting, encouraging & praying for their cell leaders

and co-leaders. I would like to thank Maggie Barnard, Ann Nicholls, Sue Belsey, Ben

Quartey-Papafio, Tim Samuel, David Farodoye and Sue Bosley for their time, faithfulness in

all they do for their cells.

I would also like to say a huge thankyou to all the cell leaders and co leaders for all the hard

work and time they put into their groups, faithfully preparing, praying and enabling their

groups each week: your ministry plays a vital role in the health of Springfield.

I would also like to thank all the cell members who are so brilliant at coming up with

innovative ideas for their outreach events and charity fundraising. This year we have had a

family disco, picnic & games at Oaks Park, a beer and skittles night, frog racing, a Springfield

recipe book, shared lunches,, caring cupcakes at Ashby Grange & Abbeyfield, and a Fairtrade

table at church each Sunday, to name a few!

The cells also serve the church week by week welcoming people, doing the reading and

prayers and serving tea & coffee. This act of service to the church is sometimes a real

challenge but it brings huge benefits to the cell members who can encourage and support

one another as they take small (or large!) steps out of their comfort zone, relying more on

God’s strength then their own.

Cells at Springfield meet as follows:

Tuesday Ashby Grange Cell, Cole Cell

Wednesday Cross Cell (Roundshaw), Lighthouse Cell, Men’s Cell, Belsey Cell, Bowen Cell,

Cushion Cell, Swan Cell, Cedar Cell

Thursday Samuel Cell (Roundshaw), Eco Cell, Clements Cell

Obviously, the more of us who are in a cell, the more people who are cared for & find

community in church, the more things are shared out in church and so the more we make

an impact in Wallington for Jesus’ kingdom.

Please come and have a chat with me or any of the cell pastors for more information.

A few things that people have said about cell:

“I love cell because when we come together I feel closer to God. I love cell because I learn

lots from others. I love cell because it refreshes and renews me.” Lee Bain

“I have felt immediately welcomed and included in discussions. I felt free to share some of

my own experiences. The prayer support is great and it’s exciting that everyone’s open to

the gifts of the Holy Spirit. I already feel that I have made some friends. I’m also impressed

by the efforts to organise social events and I expect to have a lot of fun at these” Alison

Cooper

Angie Cookson

10

Springfield @ Roundshaw

Sue writes.....

Springfield’s second congregation launched at St Pauls church on 17th October 2010.

During the spring and summer of 2010 a group of people from Springfield at Wallington girls

stepped out in faith and committed to starting a new congregation in Roundshaw.

We spent the summer months talking and planning a cafe style service and meeting

together to pray and wait on God’s guidance and provision for this mission. Jean, Nigel and

Sue went to some of the services at St Pauls to worship with the congregation and to begin

to build relationships with the people there.

Since launching, we have been joined by some families from Springfield who are more local

to Roundshaw as well as two families connected to HighView school and two families who

saw our posters in the window of St Pauls and came along. It’s also been great to see some

young people from Carshalton Girls School coming along as a result of meeting Becca and

Jean at the Christian Union that they run.

An amazing, committed and hard working group of people have made the early days of this

new congregation an exciting and encouraging place to be. Without exception people are

using their gifts and being released in yet more to serve God in many different roles. A great

team of people have made it possible to have children’s work on Sunday mornings too.

It has been rewarding to see new people become part of the congregation and get involved

in cell and helping out on a Sunday morning.

Conversations with the some of the congregation at St Pauls have led to exploring different

ways we could serve the local people of Roundshaw. We pray for God to open doors to

opportunities for mission in the coming months.

Jean writes....

9:30 am and the early risers gather to pray for the service, the people who come and those

we have yet to meet. By 9:45 the set up teams have arrived and by 9:55 – the first delicious

smell of fresh coffee wafts from the kitchen.

Meanwhile the team setting up the tables, chairs PA and projector in the hall are doing so

silently(ish); so we don’t disturb our St Paul’s friends; shifting furniture, laying tables,

unpacking boxes and then singing along with the ‘Final Hymn’ which we start to hear as the

St. Paul’s congregation finish their service. Once the hymn is over we can make a little more

noise and we chat as we work.

Mary and Emma make sure the menus are on the tables and add finishing touches – maybe

flowers and chocolates. The cafe area is then ready, with all the usual buffet breakfast fare

including tea, orange juice, croissants and toast. Breakfast and a chance to relax and chat

starts at about 10:30 and continues throughout the morning with people topping up their

drinks or having “just one more slice” at any time.

11

Our cafe style service is friendly and informal. There are notices, a moment to reflect and

worship to begin and then a story – something encouraging and taking no more than THREE

MINUTES. That’s the theory anyhow.

Our talks follow the same theme as the WHSG congregation but are delivered rather

differently. They are very interactive; perhaps with breaks for discussion, readings dotted

here and there – a quiz, an experiment or a game. I liked the After Eight forehead challenge.

The occasional heckling is handled with good humour.

By this time, the children are enjoying their own activities in the sanctuary. They are

supposed to come back for our final celebration song but seem reluctant as they are

enjoying themselves so much. On Messy Sunday, we all stay together and the talk is

followed by a time for craft. There is something quite lovely about making a card

board/pipecleaner flower with some help from a 14 year old, and being applauded for your

efforts. Peter, who isn’t crafty in the usual sense, crafted us a Roundshaw song, which I

hope you will hear at the AGM.

Did I mention teams earlier? There is a rota of sorts, but everyone looks to see what needs

to be done and helps out, even if not officially on duty; and this includes most the people

who have joined since we started. This is one of the joys of our new community and it

wasn’t planned – it just happens that way. Some of our best conversations happen at the

end in the tiny kitchen as we jostle for tea towels and elbow room.

The morning ends with someone locking up and taking home the rubbish, but not until

(name withheld) has swept the floor to his satisfaction. Home in time for lunch having

worshipped God, chatted to new friends and deepened relationships.

Youth

Working with our Young People is always fun, varied and lively and this year has been no

exception.

Our Sunday mornings continue to be well attended and we have followed series on the

Fruits of the Spirit, the Lord’s Prayer, Parables and we are currently looking at different life

skills and how we can apply God’s Word to dealing with situations in our day to day lives.

There have been lots of high points: Outreach events have included bowling, laserquest,

crazy golf, pizza and games evenings, picnics, sponsored walks etc. As leaders, we have been

really encouraged this year by the young people’s willingness to bring along their friends –

they now see how good these events are and so find it very easy to invite friends.

We continue to support Open Doors Youth a charity all about supporting persecuted

Christians in other countries.

Soul Survivor last year was yet another great time (each year just gets better and better).

Myself, Steve, Chris Sammons and Roger Brodie were joined by two more eager leaders –

Alan & Cathy Brearley, who were a great blessing to us. Watching our young people move

along in their faith and being touched by the Holy Spirit was wonderful! We had a huge

12

amount of fun, so we’re going to do it all again this Summer. So far, we have 20 young

people booked on, with a lot of new faces coming for the first time.

Sam Belsey came back from Soul Survivor with a heart for prayer and has begun to

introduce “Pizza & Prayer” nights for the older youth to get together, share some food and

pray. The 3 evenings so far have been well attended. Very encouraging!

Christian Union at Carshalton Girls’ School continues every Thursday lunchtime. We see 10

or so young girls come along each week and we have had some interesting discussions and

times of reflection. The Head of the school agreed to us starting a prayer wall, where all the

girls at school can add a prayer need/thanksgiving to our “wall” and each Thursday, we (CU)

remember to pray for these things. It’s still early days, but seems to be used and we are so

encouraged that the Head is willing to support us in this by agreeing to the idea. In April, I

am going in to the school to do some assemblies, based around Easter – again a privilege to

be able to do so; however nerve wracking this seems now!

God has blessed us once again this year with a willing new leader: David Nicholls offered to

help lead the Year 7 cell and has proved to be a huge hit with them, particularly due to his

passion for sport! Praise God for his enthusiasm and willingness. Susan Sammons has also

recently joined the team and we are thrilled and excited by God’s provision there. We

would value your prayers as we seek more leaders for the current year 6s, who are due to

come up to Youth very soon. Your prayers, too, would be invaluable as we seek God’s

purpose for our young people.

BIG thanks to Alan Brearley, Roger Brodie, Steve Watkins, Chris Padayachee, Carolyn

Churchyard and David Nicholls for their continued hard work, enthusiasm, energy and

dedication to our young people. We miss Angie Cookson, who stepped down in January in

order to focus more on her role as Cell Co-Coordinator. Angie was great fun to have on the

team and her ideas and enthusiasm impacted all of us.

And also thanks go to a bigger support network of volunteers who help so much with The

MiX and other outreach events that we put on!

The MiX

We have seen enormous growth this year at the MiX. Our numbers now average between

55-60 young people! This is wonderful! About 50% of these are non-Springfield children,

which is such an encouragement. Springfield’s youth are brilliant at inviting their friends!

The increase in numbers did give us a problem, though with space at the Phoenix Centre,

but after some talks/negotiations with the council’s youth services, we now have an

additional youth “space” available to us at the Phoenix Centre. This has made a HUGE

difference to us and enables us to continue safely.

Our team of MiX leaders willingly give of their time (and energy, running around the sports

hall) each month. Many thanks to Steve Watkins, Sandy Elderkin, Carolyn Churchyard, Dave

Foulkes, David Nicholls, Alan Brearley, Chris Blake, Roger Brodie, Rob Samuel and Chris

Samuel.

Becca Watkins

13

Tiptoes

Thursday mornings for parents, carers and their pre- school children at the Crusader hall,

Wallington

Several people have joined the team and have blessed this ministry with their gifts and

enthusiasm. The team consists of Alison, Alison, Chris, Claire, Elizabeth, Jane, Margaret and

Sue.

We work as a team to create a caring group which is focussed on people – making friends

and building relationships with those who come. Parents and carers get involved in Tiptoes

by suggesting a charity to donate proceeds of cake sales to and by providing party food and

entertainment for the children at the end of each term.

Although quite a few older children left Tiptoes to start nursery at the end of last summer,

we have been really encouraged by the number of new families who have come along since

the Autumn. The majority are invited along by current Tiptoes families but others have seen

our notice up on the door of the hall or in the church centre. There are more than 30

families on the books.

We have continued to run Tiptoes in a messy church format with lots of play, ride on toys

and a craft that links to the Bible story. Then to round off the morning we get together with

Henry the puppet who comes out of the bag to introduce the Bible story. He has proved to

be enormously popular with the children. It’s been great to see the children taking part in

worship songs too.

A few families have also been along to Footsteps messy church at HighView school.

Footsteps

Takes place once a month on a Saturday at HighView school

It has been great to see the messy church congregation of Springfield grow in a number of

ways.

We have been joined by some new families, as a result of publicising Footsteps within

HighView school as well as some families inviting friends and neighbours along too. We

average about 50 each month, with about 30 children and 20 adults coming along.

Several parents who have been part of Footsteps since it started (2 ½ years ago) have

become part of the team helping with craft and kitchen duties.

For some families, Footsteps has been a stepping stone to becoming part of the Sunday

morning church family. Two families have become established as part of the Springfield

Wallington Girls congregation. One of those families committed to having their children

baptised in the Autumn while the two adults were confirmed by Bishop Nick in October.

One family from Footsteps has become part of the church family at Springfield @

Roundshaw and one parent started the Alpha course in February.

14

Many families joined in with Feast in the Field in the summer, their children came to holiday

club and several came to the cinema in December to see the Narnia film.

The team of people involved have been such a blessing to this ministry. Sarah D has

coordinated the craft and helpers and Alison U, assisted by Mary B have been the stalwarts

of the kitchen.

A huge thanks to everyone in the team who make Footsteps happen each month.

HighView Christian Club

Mondays 3.10 – 4.30pm

Jayne Marsh and Sue Bosley run this after school club on a Monday.

Some new children joined us from year 3, although we have lost some of the older children

to competing sports club and tutoring commitments. On average 15 children come along

each week.

A change of venue in the school has meant that we have adapted our programme. We now

start with ‘cafe time’, a drink and biscuit - inspired by the fact that both Jayne and Sue are

part of cafe church at Roundshaw and are used to refreshments at the beginning of a

meeting. Cafe time is followed by a Bible story, usually involving drama, a time for games,

worship and prayer together. The children’s questions and also responses to prayer times

have often encouraged and inspired us.

Some children have links to other churches but several who have no other church

connection link up with Springfield by coming to Footsteps, holiday club, Feast in the Field

and cinema visits.

Sue Bosley

Children’s Work Peter Devitt says, “I had for some time been thinking about joining the Roadrunners team

but that's all it was, thinking! It was really when I heard John Burton speak so

enthusiastically at our cell meetings of his experience doing Holiday Club and Roadrunners

that I was really encouraged to give it a try, so I enrolled for last summer’s Rocky's Plaice. I

was shattered at the end of each morning session, but it was a 'good' shattered! And

somehow my energy was replenished for the next morning. I thoroughly enjoyed every

minute of it, the leaders, the youth helpers, the children, the dramas and the worship were

all great, and so I could not wait to enrol for Roadrunners. I joined the Roadrunners team

last September, leading a group of year four children. Whilst it took me a few sessions to

find my feet, I now feel I am helping the children, and myself, learn more about God and

Christianity, and have lots of fun into the bargain! I couldn't recommend this very rewarding

work highly enough.”

15

Holiday Club should come with a “health warning” - but seriously, Peter illustrates the

connectedness of our children’s work. A few of the families coming to Holiday Club each

year move into Roadrunners each week, now meeting at both our sites. Some will choose

Footsteps, or Highview Bible Club, to keep in contact - others choose annual events such as

the Light Party, Feast in the Field or the Cinema trips.

Rocky’s Plaice, our 2010 Holliday Club, ran at capacity of 275 children, with over 90 on the

team. Last year’s Fish & Chip Shop theme looking at Peter & the Early Church changes to a

Spy theme this year - Mission Rescue - which focuses on God’s rescue of the Israelites from

Egypt, and Jesus’ rescue of us. It’s not too late to get involved! - it’s 1st - 5th August, and it

could change your life and a child’s!

Sunday Club at Wally Girls (WHSG?) is thriving, with just over 100 children from 0-11. Sandy

Elderkin stepped down from organising our Creche for the under 3s, and Diane Garry has

taken over. We welcome Rebecca Bennett, Helen Campbell, Lilian Gyamfi and Dawn

Longhurst to her rota of helpers. The other two groups have 2 teams each, working on a

month on/month off system. Julia Nicholls joined Elizabeth Silcock in heading up the two

Sparklers teams. We said farewell to Sarah Nicholls and Bryony Sammons, as study

commitments loomed, and we have welcomed Lorna McCulloch to the team.

Roadrunners leaders Sue Bosley, Karen Cross and Sandra Wray have moved to the

Roundshaw congregation, and Rob Bosley decided to take more part in the Music Group.

Phil Campbell now heads up the alternate months, and we welcome Julie Cushion, Peter

Devitt, Sarah Downham and Clare Ratnayake and to the team. Louise Burton, Indra Okonji

and Carolyn Shearlock have offered valuable 1-to-1 support to one of our youngsters.

Children’s work at Roundshaw follows a slightly different format, but we are using the same

material. See Sue’s report for more details.

Many, many thanks to all who have served and continue to serve our children in many

different ways. Please continue to pray for all our children, and the varied activities we

engage in. Who knows, God may nudge you just like Peter!

Chris White

16

Worship Group Report AGM 2011

The Worship team serves the church through its music ministry, leading worship in Sunday

services using a variety of contemporary songs. The team practises together to prepare for

the services as well as to learn new songs and pray. We also lead worship for other events,

such as prayer meetings, leadership days and encounter days. Our aim continues to be that

of seeking God’s presence and engaging with God so that we can live out our faith,

empowered by the Holy Spirit.

At Springfield we are keen to get people involved in the worship team who have a passion

for Worship and who have musical ability. It may be that you have recently joined

Springfield and you have a talent we are unaware of – please come and chat to me.

Last year saw a number of changes in the worship team. Andrea Staniforth stepped down in

June after being part of the team for many years. The end of 2010 saw the second

congregation start at St Pauls in Roundshaw, where the worship is being led by Nigel

Elderkin and Christine Strohmeier. Michael Hartland kindly organised the choir for the Carol

Service and I would like to thank everyone who took part in the service.

I would like to thank all the team (Worship and PA) for their commitment, time and support

of this ministry in the church, week by week. Thank you also to those of you in the church

who encourage and bless us with your support and prayers.

Finally, I would like to thank Andrea for all the time she gave to worship team while being

part of Springfield.

Andrew Usher

Pastoral Care Pastoral Care is the term used when we listen to, support, encourage and befriend one

another. Although I have the job title of Pastoral Care Co-ordinator, I don’t (and can’t) do all

of it by any means. Pastoral care starts with every member of Springfield, especially in cell

situations where members are encouraged to share their joys and their burdens and show

care for each other.

The majority of ministries in Springfield have a pastoral element and this year in particular

it’s been great to see Caring Cup Cakes and Chatterbox reaching out to people in our wider

community, building relationships and often making a difference to people’s lives (please

see Carolyn and Trish’s reports below).

My role as co-ordinator gives me the privilege of seeing many people in our congregation

supporting and serving others, very often unnoticed by the wider church – thank you all.

This year Wendy Samuel has co-ordinated all the resources that we have enjoyed using in

the prayer room on our Springfield Days and Weeks of prayer and she has sent this handy

acronym:

17

Prayer Room

Pause for just an hour, taking time to

Rest in God’s presence and

Adjust our focus and look into His face. Over the last

Year we’ve had the opportunity with 2 weeks and 8 days to

Enjoy the varied resources and topics to

Refresh our prayer life and

Refocus on Almighty God and

Open doors into heaven for

Others and ourselves

Make an appointment next time around to meet God and move mountains.

Wendy Samuel

Chatterbox

Chatterbox is where we spend an hour a week talking to people who want to improve their

spoken English in an informal, relaxed and friendly setting. We offer refreshments and an

opportunity to create relationships not found in a formal teaching structure, while still

providing a valuable path towards better communication.

So far we have participants from Mongolia and Colombia so if you know anyone who might

like to join us at the Church centre please speak to either Ann, Rosie or Trish.

Trish King

Caring Cupcakes

Cakes with a mission

Andrea Morris and myself have always baked as part of our service … having set up and run a

coffee morning at our old church to bring in people who used the surrounding park. When we

came to Springfield we wondered how that would translate … coming up with an idea over coffee

we had no idea quite how God would use us to venture much further into our community than

we ever imagined.

One of the greatest things has been being placed under Ann’s pastoral umbrella … we have been

given love, encouragement and support in abundance. Nigel has designed a fab logo and printed

all our stationery … even cute little cupcake stickers to seal our boxes!

18

We have been blessed with the most amazing team of wonderful bakers and an enthusiastic,

caring volunteer team who deliver and pray with recipients. We get together for regular ‘cheese n

wine’ catch up gatherings (no baking – busman’s holiday and all that!).

Along with the one-off deliveries … those who have either had a baby, been poorly or just going

through a difficult time … we now visit Ashby Grange, hosted by Doris and Abbeyfield, hosted by

Pat every other month and supply cakes, people to serve drinks and chat to residents. As a team

we have been overwhelmed at the welcome from everyone … and that they actually look forward

to our visits.

Our only rule is that our cakes are baked with a prayer … praying for the recipients as we cook …

delivered with love, a smile and an offer of prayer.

This mission has been so greatly received … and as one of our team said the other day ‘ I love

baking, I love meeting and chatting to people and we have been given the opportunity to do

something we love in God’s service’.

We pray that God will open up many more opportunities to reach out in his name.

If you are interested in baking or volunteering we’d love to have you with us.

Carolyn Churchyard & Andrea Morris

New Wine 2010

Nikki & Andrew

This was our first visit to New Wine. We have been to a number of Christian

conferences before, but we have never had a week like the one we spent at Shepton Mallett

last summer. We are seasoned campers and realise that if you can’t take a joke with the

weather, then you shouldn’t go camping in England. Even so, the assurances that Shepton

Mallett has a bizarre microclimate that guarantees copious rain – if not trench foot – were

slightly disconcerting. As was the news that no; electric hook-ups were not available.

Nevertheless, we took Will at his word that this would be a life-changing experience.

And so, on a Saturday towards the end of July, we found ourselves camping with a

six-month-old baby who didn’t yet sleep through the night, no electricity, no steriliser and

the promise of rain on a Noah’s Flood scale in close proximity to lots of strangers. And if

possible even worse, lots of people we did know – with the crowd-pleasing likelihood of

keeping them awake half the night. Sorry Jane and James.

The promise about the weather proved to be pleasingly wrong. We all enjoyed a

rain-free week. The other promise, however, was much better founded. We did have an

amazing week. Spending the week so close to other members of Springfield and other

churches, was a real chance to develop as a community and to get to know people better, as

19

were the many late night conversations in the communal tent over a glass or three of wine.

The meetings and seminars were a great opportunity to go and do business with God, and

we were both able, through the worship, the prayer ministry and an inspirational set of talks

by Simon Ponsonby, to begin to make sense of some issues that had been troubling us. Due

to the excellent children’s programmes and the freedom the children had to run and occupy

themselves, we were able to take out some time together and talk through what God was

teaching us. It was a time of real development in our relationship with God.

Nathaniel

I really enjoyed everything about New Wine. I liked the way that we had so much to

do and we didn’t ever get bored. My leaders were really kind and caring. Our meetings were

fun and we learnt a lot too. I liked our prayer tent, where we could go and pray with a

leader if we were feeling worried about something. The chillout zone was brilliant. There

were games, crafts, sweets and music. I loved being able to walk back to the tent by myself

or with friends.

Ollie

My leaders were very kind and our meetings were fun. They did some very funny

things on the stage. The music was loud and i enjoyed it. We did a lot of actions and

dancing. I never got bored, because I had so many friends to play with all the time.

We’ll be there again this year and hope to see you too.

Andrew, Nikki, Nathaniel & Ollie Green

RUSH Some of my experiences on the trip to Kakamege in Kenya by Paul Hope.

The people were always very friendly and said ‘hallo, how are you’ when passing, even

minimally clothed small children. The village seem to let the cows and chickens go free at all

times, just grazing by the side of the road. The weather was hot in the 30-33 degrees and

orange dirt everywhere: wet wipes were needed before getting into bed or you would have

dirty sheets.

The hospitality that we received from Andrew and Lucy Amukowa and the family was

second to none. We were always well fed and our clothes cleaned! It was remarkable, as

there were 11 of us and they had more than 13 at any one time in the house. We

sometimes got woken up as the school bus with the children went off to school before 6am

and did not come home till after 5pm. They were always clean and tidy like anyone else

going about their business even when coming out of their mud hut homes which were in

contrast to the brick buildings we stayed in.

The toilets left a lot to be desired as we went from normal to squat to long drop, (those

cleaned out when full), and when using them I could see the flies.

20

The school at Rush was a lot bigger than I expected and greater age range of children from

nursery to 13-15 year olds. The level of teaching very high: the standard that the children

were at and the discipline in the classroom and outside in the compound was unbelievable.

The amount of people selling goods in town: the way they put them out onto the pavement,

keeping them clean and also the food sold on the side of the road that the locals would buy

was amazing too. When any mechanical repairs were needed they could be done very

quickly there and then at a cost of simply £3-4 per job done. Complete units were not

always available so people simply repaired the items that had broken with parts sold in

town.

The roads from town to town were good but other roads were just dirt tracks that the

buses, cars motorbikes and budha-budha go at a great pace. The cheap & simple budha-

budha, is a bicycle with a seat on the back, and would transport a person or goods to or

from town at round 20 shillings (18 pence).

We westerners would have to barter for all goods and services as the people saw us as

easy money, unless you were in a supermarket, then the price was fixed. There were always

many staff in the supermarkets willing to help at all times, with always two on the tills.

The simple bus transport systems. They are always looking for customers even if the bus

(small mini bus) is full, 15-18 people, they would still like to get you in and take your money.

The poverty just outside the compound and all along the streets and roadside into town was

very hard to accept, and the very rich and poor living side by side, each needed by both.

Would I go again? Yes and hopefully be able to offer more help to anyone who needs it.

Paul Hope

Electoral Roll

The electoral roll is the legal form of church membership, and gives the right to vote at the

AGM, and to stand for church office. It is open to any who have regularly attended the

church for 6 months..

The number on the roll stands at 181 as of 17th March 2011