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Review of 2009
2009 has been a busy, eventful year in the life
of our church, and looking back on it, I see it as a year in which there
has been much blessing.
We started the year with the knowledge that we
were losing our minister. On Sunday 11th January Danny preached his last
sermon to a church that was jam-packed and overflowing with people who had
come to bid their farewell.
Rev. Nigel Reid was appointed as our convenor,
and in what has been a very busy and sometimes difficult year, he has
endeared himself to the congregation and is held in the highest regard by
our people. Nigel worked extremely hard, guiding us as quickly as
possible through the long administrative process of applying to Presbytery
and the Union Commission for permission to call a new minister. Much of
the ‘spade work’ in this process fell on Edwin – (Edwin does so much
around the church, and we owe him an enormous amount of gratitude.) We
were able to interview candidates in June, but had to wait until the
holidays were passed before the hearing committee could go to listen to
the candidates and then recommend to the Kirk Session.
Mr. Reid’s pastoral care of the elderly, sick
and bereaved has been an inspiration. One member of the congregation
commented to me, in the midst of his own trouble, that Mr. Reid’s high
level of diligent pastoral care for a congregation, that wasn’t even his
main charge, was a benchmark measure for others. (There will be more said
about Mr. Reid’s contribution in the near future.)
Mr. Reid drew up a list of excellent ministers
to preach in our pulpits every Sunday. We have been blessed Sunday by
Sunday, not least through your ministry, Dr. McGaughey, for which we do
sincerely thank you. God’s Word has been faithfully preached throughout
the vacancy and is bearing fruit. I heard just recently of a young man in
our congregation who came to faith some months ago, led by something that
Dr. McGaughey had said from the pulpit. That man is already serving the
Lord with a unique talent, and I believe that as he goes on with the Lord,
he will be a great blessing to the congregation.
Our two organists, Lindsay and Andrew, have been
tremendous. (Thanks for tonight, Andrew, when you should be in bed, and to
your parents for bringing you.) Many a Sunday, when we are singing a
rousing hymn and Andrew maybe has all the stops out in the last verse, I’m
just so filled with emotion that I can’t continue singing and just stand
transfixed with the music. It’s great to have Mr. McAlister with us to
shout the hallelujahs that some of us want to express but are probably
still too shy to voice. Maybe we could progress to echoing his praise
with an ‘Amen’.
The choir has gone from strength to strength
under Pamela’s leadership. It’s good to see it growing in numbers and
it’s also good to see so many young people in it. I have come out of
church many Sundays in 2009, saying that I’m quite sure there hasn’t been
a better church service anywhere in Ireland.
The Elders, being aware the Mr. Reid had a very
heavy work load, decided to try to ease the burden by sharing the running
of the midweek Bible study. We did three sessions, - on Philippians,
Paul’s missionary journeys and a selection of Psalms. We were very
encouraged by the weekly attendance, usually in the mid twenties and
sometimes more. We want to thank people for their support. It certainly
helped us as Elders a lot, not least in preparing for the studies we had
to lead.
2009 has seen a number of serious illnesses,
problems, deaths and tragedies among our members. These have welded the
congregation together in their concern, not least in the prayer meetings,
which have seen good numbers over the year. Many of the ladies have
demonstrated the care of the congregation in providing tea at funerals, a
service which has been much appreciated. The fund raising events for
Carla also helped to bring the congregation together.
Most of our organisations, GB, PW, Bowls,
continue to flourish – there are one or two gaps, as identified by the
Kirk Session, but these are being addressed. This year we re-organised
the older members of the senior Sunday school. They meet in the kitchen
of the Small Memorial Hall as a junior Bible class and is very ably led by
the dynamic Thomas Dalzell. (There will be more about the Sunday schools
and senior Bible class in a few weeks time.) I looked in to Kids’ Church
some weeks ago, and I was very impressed by the good discipline and the
enthusiasm of the leaders and the kids. Tumble Tots, led by Ruth Gray, is
bulging and is a great witness to the community. Jennifer and I have
recently started to support the Bright Hour, and it seems to be on the up,
very ably led by Dr. Pamela. Again, in June there was a very successful
Holiday Bible club led by Glen.
We did a leaflet drop in the area announcing our
Easter and Harvest services, and every weekend over the summer, volunteers
contacted the caravaners in Gosford’s to publicise our Sunday services.
Both these ventures provided many useful contacts, and we look forward to
developing this work in 2010.
I must also pay tribute to our church secretary,
Kenny Maclean and our treasurer, Ronald Mills. Kenny has had to get
through a prodigious amount of work this year, with all the ‘normal’
stuff, plus also all the Committee’s forms that had to be completed for
Presbytery and the Union Commission, plus also co-ordinating all the
repair work to the Small Memorial Hall and the Manse. Ronald is keeping a
tight hold on the fiscal reins and warns us when we are tempted to
overspend. People outside the Committee are not aware of the amount of
work that these two men have to do. Many a time I sit in the committee
listening to the business and I say to myself, ‘Who would want to be a
church secretary or treasurer nowadays?’
Indeed, we are indebted to the very many people
in our church who make their own unique contribution, whether it is in
catering, organisation of the FWO, maintenance or in little jobs to be
done for the smooth running of our church.
So 2009 could have been a year when, in a
vacancy, the church could have fallen apart. Instead, I believe that our
church has grown stronger, and we are indeed thankful to the Lord for
holding us together and strengthening us, and we have been very conscious
of his guidance as we look forward to the installation of our new
minister, Rev. David Irvine, on Friday, 8th January.
Jim Reaney’s book, 'The Planters;
Roots & Branches' was launched in January and you will be aware that 2010
is a significant year for us, being the 400th anniversary of the arrival
of Presbyterians in our area and also the 400th anniversary of the
founding of the town of Markethill. The Kirk Session invites you to
celebrate this anniversary, to celebrate it ACTIVELY, that means, not just
to sit and enjoy events that others have organised. I hope to say more
about this later, but just for tonight - let each of us set ourselves a
noble challenge of something that we can do in our church community, maybe
something new that we haven’t done or tried before, some ‘extra mile we
can go’, so that each of us can say, ‘THIS is MY contribution to the
celebration of 400 years’. Thank you.
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