What's Happening in South Shawlands

Thank you to all who supported the Planning for Growth campaign at the end of February. We had two great evenings, as four people from our church expressed something about what God and the church means to them. There was also an exhibition demonstrating something of the life and work of all the organisations and groups round our church. They were inspiring and moving evenings.

The response forms are still coming in, so we are still going through all the data, and we hope to report back to you in more detail after the summer, when we have worked out all that has happened. We are so grateful to all those who returned cards, and for pledges to help support the work of the church in service and in finance!

Thank you too to those who came to our church day away “Reflections on the church” at the end of April. It was a great day at Robroyston church, thinking a little about the church in the past, present and future. It was a lovely day of fellowship and chat and prayer and thoughtfulness, with some helpful ideas coming out of it all regarding our vision statement! Watch this space for more details.

We have also greatly appreciated the presence of Fiona Fidgeon coming along for 6 sessions on a Wednesday evening to teach us on “aspects of prayer”. Fiona is one of the Ministries Council “Education and nurture group” and has been leading us to think about different approaches to prayer. We have greatly appreciated her input, and it has made us think about prayer in a new light.

As we have heard at the Annual Business Meeting in March, there are new financial regulations from OSCR the charity regulator, regarding the financial accounts in churches. This has meant a lot of extra work to get the accounts together in a new format, and I want to thank Sandy and the finance team for their hard work to get everything in order.

In preparation for our Centenary year, we continue to collect stories about the life of the church over the years. Please take some time to write down some of your memories of the church in the past – the 75^th anniversary celebrations, the Guild, the Youth Fellowship etc. All stories to be in for 31^st July 2008! ( see Centenary Page)

The Community Chaplaincy to the shops and businesses in the area had their launch meeting in April. Thanks to all who helped with this!