Dear friends,
i am very moved by the surprise blessing for my 2 months away – i am very grateful to Lynnette and Pauline – Lynnette for the gift of the shawl from Ghana, and Pauline for her prayer. i am very thankful for all the outpouring of support from all of you.
For those of you who were not there on Sunday – i made 3 important announcements –
The first one is that i will be taking a break in the months of April and May. This would be a time of reflection and discernment – reflecting on where God has led me, and where God is leading me to. We are growing as a community and i have a sense that there is quite a lot in store for us in the coming few years.
The other announcement i made that is more significant is that Molly would be retiring at the end of this year. We had been working with her on the past 2 years to plan her finances moving forward so that she can have financial stability after retirement. We would be working on the transition in the second half of the year – we would need everyone to step up chipping in to take over some of the tasks she is currently doing, just like in the past when treated the church like our home and we clean up after ourselves and we all helped in cleaning and maintaining the church. To honour her services to the church, we would like her to join the Israel trip at the end of the year. We would be taking up an offering in June to fund this gift,and any excess from that offering would be given to Molly as a love gift.
Finally, i spoke about our 15th Anniversary celebrations in October this year. There were suggestions previously about holding a gala dinner or gala concert to raise funds for our building fund in conjunction with our anniversary celebrations. Pauline and i, in our discernment, felt that a gala event does not reflect the ethos or the spirit of FCC. FREE stand for First Realise Everyone’s Equal – and a gala event would mean that only those who can afford it can participate. In May 2013, we held the Big Commune to raise funds for the building fund. It allowed everyone to contribute – those who could cook cooked, those who could paint, painted, those who could perform performed, and those who could eat ate. We raised $25,123 that day. We hope to do something similar this year where everyone could contribute whatever they can to this community we call home. We are looking for people to step up, and step in to contribute their ideas, talents, gifts and skills for our celebrations.
Pray with me as we look ahead as a community to where God is leading us to.
miak