Minister’s Message 12 April
Dear Friends
As you will be aware, the elders have been working on the development of a five year Mission Action Plan for the united congregation. Since this is the first time this type of Plan has been asked of us by Presbytery and since we are still in the early days of bringing together the work of the previous parishes, this is of necessity just an interim step towards what will become a more comprehensive and more focussed document in future years.
Grateful thanks to those of you who responded in writing to the request for input to this process and to those of you who attended the Vision Making meeting at the end of March where some work was done on prioritising the suggestions that had been received.
This week the Kirk Session met to finalise this Mission Action Plan for submission to the Presbytery of Perth and to decide on the four over-arching priorities under which the ministry and mission of our church will be shaped during the coming year.
These were agreed as follows:
1. To worship God, follow Christ, and serve the community as Kinross-shire Parish Church.
2. To establish an effective church structure including wider ministry and local community teams.
3. To use a variety of platforms to develop good communication across the parish and with the wider community.
4. To bring greater strategy to the wide variety of activities and resources for youth and families.
Underneath these four priorities, agreement was also reached on priorities for our Teams (which cover the following areas of work: Worship & Discipleship, Fellowship & Pastoral Care, Outreach & Community, Youth & Families, Admin & Communication, Finance, and Property) and these will be published in due course. We will be encouraging all elders and church members to get directly involved in supporting at least one area of our church's ministry and mission by prayer and practical action, so look out for these and consider where your interests lie and what you personally might offer in the furthering of our aims and objectives as a church.
The Kirk Session also approved the job description for the post of part-time Ministry Associate which was provided for in the Basis of Union, and this will be advertised in the course of the next week with a view to making an appointment sometime in May. The post of Pioneer Youth Minister is currently also being advertised by KYTHE and we hope that interviews will also be
held early next month.
Please continue to pray for God's guidance at this time of transition so that we can build strong foundations for the future of Kinross-shire Parish Church after the upheavals of the past couple of years.
Yours because His
Alan
Revd A D Reid